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Alex Patten Wins the Flyin 4 Feature Race at ASA Sanctioned Desoto Super Speedway
By Tom Blakeley
October 17, 2009, Bradenton FL Tonight was a great night to be at the local short track. The weather finally cut us some slack and was cooler than normal, but that didn’t cool off the hot competition at the speedway.
Alex Patten in car #13 drove an almost perfect race and took the checkered flag for the 20 lap feature race in the Flyin 4 class. Just a year ago he was racing in the Magic 4 class for 12 to 17 year olds, but tonight he showed everybody just how to “Man Up”. Alex left his great sense of humor in the pits and it was all business for the entire 20 laps. He started in fourth and quickly began the drive to the top and then once he took the lead even former track champ Randy Johnson could not catch him.
Alex’s Mom, Dee Patten, was watching very intently as she will be behind the wheel on October 24th for the Powder Puff race. She was taking notes and planning her strategy as her son was finishing off a big win for the Patten family.
Former announcer, turned driver; Todd Morey took second place in the Pink Bullet #91 car usually driven by Jessica “O”. Dalton Baldwin took third place in the #4 car. Dalton is having a great season and is the son of Bobby Baldwin who drives the #4 Open Wheel Modified car. The Flyin 4’s also ran a 6 lap heat race tonight with Alex Patten winning this race as well. It was a great night for the Flyin 4’ Class.
Desoto Pro Trucks. The Pro trucks ran a 6 lap heat race which was won by Brent Huber in the white #64 truck. The 25 lap feature race was won by Stephen Darvalics in the #41 truck. Nick Hernandez won second place in the #37 truck and Michael Smith in the #23 truck took third place.
This was a classic truck race at Desoto Super Speedway with Tyler Lau in the #12 truck and Brent Huber in the #64 truck literally running side by side for 15 laps of the feature 25 lap event. They touched on lap 15 and then Huber pulled in front of Lau for the rest of the race. Not a lot of trucks but plenty of action and excitement for the fans.
The Skyway Corvette Club invaded the track tonight and ran some great “Fan Participation” races during intermission. The wonderful looking Taupe Corvette valued at $160,000 won its share of the races, but the blue one took the trophy. This was a lot of fun for the Corvette owners and the fans. The club promised to come back in a few weeks to try it again.
Magic 4’s. The kids were in rare form tonight as it only took 3 complete restarts to get the first lap of the 20 lap feature race in the books. Brittany Barr in the #81 car took the checkered flag for the feature tonight with Dallas Troyer in the silver bullet #01 car right behind her. Troyer took second place and Zac Campilonga in the Pop’s Thorbin Memorial car#30 won third place. Zac drove the race of the year for himself tonight. To start the evening of racing action the Magic 4’s ran a 6 lap heat race which was won by Dallas Troyer in the #01 car. It was a good night for the Magic 4’s as flagman “White Flag Bud” did not have to get stern the entire race. YAHOO!
And then along comes the Pure Stocks!! What a night for Chelsea Lau. Chelsea in the #13 car won the 6 lap heat race for her first win ever. The crowd went wild as she drove a really aggressive race and did not back down to some bumping and pushing by veteran driver Robert Yoho. He was just giving her some love taps he said afterward. Robert Crisp in the #2 car won the second heat race.
The feature race saw a lot of action as the thrills and spills started on turn 2 and lead to the #57 of Ben Kelly and the #00 of Robert Yoho getting tangled and then the #44 of Neal Martin and #70 of Leonard McCue going sideways and sliding to a stop in an attempt to miss hitting Kelly and McCue. The feature 25 lap event was won by Robert Crisp in the #2 car with Darren Ellis in the #71 car taking second place. Miss Chelsea Lau drove another great race to win third place in the big race. Andrew Moon in the #31 car had everybody a little nervous as he caught fire in the infield after the race, but everything turned out ok.
The entire staff of Desoto Super Speedway wants to thank the fans, drivers and car owners for their support and LOYALTY. Without your support and loyalty there would be no local racing for the folks of Sarasota/Bradenton. Every one of us appreciate and THANK YOU.
Join us Saturday October 24th as the gates open at 5 PM. Racing action begins at 7 PM and this week we will have the Powder Puff race of the “Queens of the Front Stretch” hit the asphalt oval. Check us out on the web at www.desotosuperspeedway.com or give us a call at 94
OFFICIAL RESULS DESOTO SUPER SPEEDWAY OCTOBER 17, 2009
DS TRUCKS - DS TRUCKS 25L Pos Driver Car # 1 STEPHEN DARVALICS 41 2 MICHAEL SMITH 23 3 BRENT HUBER 64 4 TYLER LAU 12 5 NICK HERNANDEZ 37 6 CHRIS HUNTOON 30
DS TRUCKS - HEAT Pos Driver Car # 1 BRENT HUBER 64 2 NICK HERNANDEZ 37 3 MICHAEL SMITH 23 4 STEPHEN DARVALICS 41 5 TYLER LAU 12 6 CHRIS HUNTOON 30
FLYIN 4s - FEATURE Pos Driver Car # 1 ALEX PATTEN 13 2 TODD MOREY 91T 3 DALTON BALDWIN 4 4 RANDY JOHNSON 01 5 BRETT ENGLAND 5 6 KEN (PAUL) SMITH 11X 7 CHELSEA LAU 44X 8 PATRICK FIORE 50 9 MARVIN CAVEY 20
FLYIN 4s - HEAT Pos Driver Car # 1 ALEX PATTEN 13 2 TODD MOREY 91T 3 DALTON BALDWIN 4 4 KEN (PAUL) SMITH 11X 5 BRETT ENGLAND 5 6 CHELSEA LAU 44X 7 PATRICK FIORE 50 8 RANDY JOHNSON 01 9 MARVIN CAVEY 20
PURE STOCKS - HEAT 1 Pos Driver Car # 1 CHELSEA LAU 13 2 ROBERT YOHO 00 3 BEN KELLY 57 4 NEAL MARTIN 144 5 STEVE ELDER 42 6 DAVID DAVIS 6
PURE STOCKS - HEAT 2 Pos Driver Car # 1 ROBERT CRISP 2 2 DARRIN ELLIS 71 3 AUSTIN CRAIG 10 4 LEONARD McCUE 70 5 ANDREW MOON 31
PURE STOCKS - PS 20L 19 OR LESS Pos Driver Car # 1 ROBERT CRISP 2 2 DARRIN ELLIS 71 3 CHELSEA LAU 13 4 AUSTIN CRAIG 10 5 LEONARD McCUE 70 6 NEAL MARTIN 144 7 ROBERT YOHO 00 8 BEN KELLY 57 9 STEVE ELDER 42 10 ANDREW MOON 31 11 DAVID DAVIS 6
